Independence Pass reopens Tuesday morning after overnight storm

A snow blower attached to the front of a Colorado Department of Transportation loader chews an eight-foot-wide swath through the five-foot-high snowpack two miles from the summit of Independence Pass.(Scott Condon, Aspen Times)

Independence Pass east of Aspen reopened Tuesday morning after an overnight storm dropped up to 8 inches on parts of Highway 82 over the Continental Divide.

The Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center had crews up the pass Tuesday morning, and CDOT crews were up plowing and sanding the road. Parts of the highway picked up 6 to 8 inches, CDOT said in a news release.

CDOT will monitor the weather conditions daily “to determine if the pass can stay open.”